The Romance Languages

This comprehensive survey examines the Romance languages from a wide variety of perspectives.

Rebecca Posner (Author)

9780521281393, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 September 1996

400 pages, 5 maps 27 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.63 kg

"...Posner's The Romance Languages is a work of immense erudition and scholarship which will be most appreciated by those who have some prior knowledge of the history and development of this widespread language family." Marc Picard, Canadian Journal of Linguistics

What is a Romance language? How is one Romance language related to others? How did they all evolve? And what can they tell us about language in general? In this comprehensive survey Rebecca Posner, a distinguished Romance specialist, examines this group of languages from a wide variety of perspectives. Her analysis combines philological expertise with insights drawn from modern theoretical linguistics, both synchronic and diachronic. She relates linguistic features to historical and sociological factors, and teases out those elements which can be attributed to divergence from a common source and those which indicate convergence towards a common aim. Her discussion is extensively illustrated with new and original data, and an up-to-date and comprehensive bibliography is included. This volume will be an invaluable and authoritative guide for students and specialists alike.

Introduction
Part I. The Similarities: 1. What is a Romance language I
2. What is a Romance language II
3. Latin and Romance
4. Convergence, inter-influence and parallel development
Part II. The Differences: 5. How many Romance languages?
6. When did the Romance languages differentiate?
7. How did the Romance languages differentiate?
8. Sociolinguistic factors.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]